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Colourpop Pressed Eyeshadows | Bargain or Bust?

It’s been hard to miss the Colourpop craze that has boomed in the last year or two. I’ve been a big fan of the Supershock Shadows and their creamy, putty-like formula that lasts all day. So I was definitely curious when I saw they’d released pressed powder shadows in a rainbow of shades! Like the rest of the range, the price is hard to beat but I often believe you get what you pay for when it comes to pigmentation. So I nabbed one of their recent palette releases and put them to the test to see if they were bargain, or bust.

My foray into ordering this palette didn’t start off on a great foot; The first one I ordered arrived in absolute pieces that subsequently ended up all over my floor when I opened the box. I’d love to say Colourpop was great about their customer service in this case, but sadly they were not. So in true blogger commitment, I ordered and paid for another palette (hey, it looked really pretty, ok?), and thankfully it arrived with marginal damage.

But, we aren’t here to talk about the palette per se, but rather the quality of the shadows. The brand offers a variety of finishes and the Fem Rosa She palette had matte, satin and metallic formulas in it so I feel it gave me a good grasp of what to expect.

Colourpop Pressed Powder Matte Eyeshadow Review

The matte shadows swatches impressively in terms of strong pigment payoff. The colours were bold rather than ashy or chalky like many mattes can be. What I will say is the formula is a touch thin in terms of blending out, so they really benefit from having a sticky base to help the pigment adhere to the skin better. I found that these can get a bit muddy if you are trying to layer too many shades together, so be wary of that.

Colourpop Pressed Powder Satin Eyeshadow Review

Again, I found the formula to be a bit thin with the satin finish shadows but they were buildable and blendable. These wore slightly longer on my lids without a base than the matte formula and were easier to work with overall. They were silky to the touch, but nothing revolutionary in terms of formula or texture.

Colourpop Pressed Powder Metallic Eyeshadow Review

Much like the mattes, the metallic formula had a great bold payoff in swatch (though not as much applying with a brush). Similarly, they definitely needed a base to stick down well and get the most sparkle out of their finish. I found these a bit less refined in texture that I normally would like. You can see in the swatches that they can bunch a bit if applying with a finger (which seems to get the best application out of them)

Final Thoughts

Do I think the Colourpop shadows are a good bargain for their price?Yes.

Do I think they are incredible in terms of quality?They’re just alright.

Do I reach for them often? Not really, and that brings me to my main concern which is I don’t find the lasting power great on them. Each time I have used these shadows I’ve felt the fading near the end of a day is significantly more than the shadows I would normally reach for. That often is the case when brands pack too much pigment into their formula but don’t put enough of a binding agent into it (The drama from the Anastasia Subculture Palette might come to mind here).

To clarify, with the right base (I recommend something with a touch of grip like this one from MAC or this one from NARS, which is the best on the market IMO) these work well and will get you through an 8 hour workday.

So yes, they are a bargain… but not really if you consider the products you need to make them work. If you happen to fall in love with a certain shade of a palette like Fem Rosa, then bonus. Otherwise, I don’t see myself actively purchasing more in the future.